Fall radio ratings: CHOM and CJPX gain, The Beat and TSN lose, Radio X struggles (UPDATED)

Fall 2012 ratings from BBM Canada for the anglo Montreal market (Aug. 27 to Nov. 25), with comparisons to the same period a year ago. (Numbers reflect total 2+ audience)

BBM Canada released its fall 2012 ratings for metered markets (including Montreal) on Thursday. While members get detailed information from which they can spin all sorts of good news, the public gets an overall picture (PDF).

On the English side, there’s the usual fluctuations. CHOM gains a point and a half compared to last year (but is down slightly in market share compared to the summer), and also has a larger overall audience than it did a year ago.

CJAD, Virgin and The Beat are also up slightly, and CBC Radio One has lost a bit.

Among francophone listeners, where anglo music stations actually have a larger audience than in English, CHOM has 30,000 more listeners on a daily basis than it did a year ago, and Virgin and The Beat have both lost a bit of ground.

I await their spin, revealing what nuggets of significant gains aren’t being reflected in the overall ratings. (See below)

For TSN Radio (CKGM), there’s no getting around the disappointing ratings period. The station has a 2.3% market share this fall, down from 4.0% a year ago. Its daily audience among anglos has dropped from 60,000 to 43,000. Even simulcasting on two frequencies hasn’t been enough to compensate for the lack of NHL hockey.

The Beat falls among 25-54 demos

But those are for the total audience. What about the key 25-54 demographic, the people with money that advertisers want?

CKBE (The Beat) has lost the gains it made this spring, falling back into third place overall behind CHOM. It has a 21% commercial market share among adults 25-54, compared to CHOM’s 25% and Virgin’s 32%. Much of that loss is among men, where it had spiked to 22% in the spring but is now back at 16%. Among women, it’s gone down slightly, but Virgin’s lead has increased from four points to 13 points.

Its morning show has dropped back into fourth place after barely reaching second in the spring, with fewer than 7,000 listeners in the average minute (Virgin’s morning show has more than 10,000 listeners) among adults 25-54. Late mornings and lunch hour have dropped from first to third, and early afternoons dropped from first to second behind Virgin. Its drivetime show also dropped from second to third after losing about a quarter of its audience from the spring. On weekends, it was third before and remains so.

Perhaps the most telling statistic is average listening time: 3.1 hours per week, putting it behind CJAD, CHOM and Virgin, which are all between 4 and 4.5 hours a week.

Overall, it’s an awful ratings period for The Beat, bringing them back to what they were at before their notable gains in the spring. That explains why their press release (below) doesn’t mention any numbers.

CJFM (Virgin Radio) is still No. 1 in most key demographics. Among women 25-54, they’re at 41% market share. Its biggest gain is in late mornings and early afternoons, where Nikki Balch and Ryan Seacrest respectively have picked up almost 3,000 average-minute listeners from the spring. Virgin also made significant gains at morning and afternoon drive. It’s now the top station during the morning rush and from 11am to 8pm weekdays among adults 25-54.

Its strength remains in younger audiences – the top nine shows among adults 18-34 are all on Virgin.

CHOM still gets to brag that it’s No. 1 among men, and its market share among men 25-54 has gone up to 35%, though much of that probably has to do with the lack of hockey pushing TSN Radio listeners back to their backup radio option. CHOM has also jumped ahead of The Beat for second place among all adults 25-54.

The morning show with Terry DiMonte and Heather Backman now has about 10,000 listeners 25-54 in the average minute, good for second place after being behind The Beat and CJAD in different ratings periods. It continues a steady climb from 8,000 a year ago and 7,000 the year before that. CHOM’s morning show audience has grown 50% in two years, but still isn’t the high peak of the day. Among men 25-54, there are only about half as many listeners at 7am as there are at 11am.

Tootall had a great ratings report, with the late morning part of his show gaining 20% audience since the spring and now the top-rated show at CHOM. The lunch hour and afternoon parts had more modest gains. The afternoon drive show with Bilal Butt gained slightly to its highest average-minute audience in two years, but it’s still a distant second to Virgin and mired in a tight three-way race with The Beat and CJAD. Even among men 25-54, the show struggles to compete with Virgin and CJAD.

On weekends, CHOM dipped slightly, but it’s still a clear second, and it’s fighting with Virgin for top spot among men 25-54 on weekend afternoons.

CJAD’s numbers didn’t change much. Astral brags about its high-rated morning show, but it’s still third among adults 25-54 (its strength is earlier in the morning, and it dominates the ratings until about 7am). The lunchtime show with Ric Peterson made a significant jump from 2,500 to 3,500 listeners in the demo (but still well behind the three music stations), and the afternoon drive show with Aaron Rand also gained more than a thousand listeners in the 25-54 demo. Rather than fighting TSN for fourth place, it’s fighting CHOM and The Beat for second.

Among all audiences, CJAD is still the top rated station among English listeners, and has the five top-rated shows.

CKGM (TSN 690) is clearly wishing for hockey to come back. Among men 25-54, it has a 7% market share, about half what it did a year ago. Every major time slot is down, and its hopes of competing with CJAD in some of them (notably afternoon drive) are gone for now.

Radio X disappoints

On the French side, not much has changed from a year ago. CHMP 98.5 is still the No. 1 station with a 22.5% market share, followed by CFGL (Rythme FM, 18.6%), CITE (Rouge FM, 12.3%, up more than two points from a year ago) and CBF (Première Chaîne, 11.3%).

NRJ (CKMF) and CKOI continue to be stuck in the single digits, with CKOI hitting a new market share low of 5.7%, even though it’s third-highest in total weekly audience reach. At this point, CKOI barely beats out classical music station CJPX, which has grown a point and a half in French and gained 30,000 daily listeners since last year.

NRJ’s market share is 7.1%, down from 10.3% a year ago.

The most interesting information on the franco side concerns CKLX-FM 91.9, which went from being Planète Jazz to Radio X this fall. Reports that ratings had actually dropped as a result of the change have turned out to be true. Planète Jazz had a 1.3% market share, 64,300 daily listeners and 902,800 weekly listeners a year ago. In the summer, it had a 1.2% share, 62,700 daily listeners and 944,800 weekly listeners. But in its first ratings period as Radio X, it has a 0.8% market share, 54,500 daily listeners and 640,100 weekly listeners.

Radio X, in other words, has only 2/3 the audience that Planète Jazz had, after a programming change designed to bring in more listeners.

Radio X, owned by RNC Media, will counter that this kind of change takes time to build an audience, though that’s not necessarily true.

To be fair, it also made some gains in the key 25-54 demos. Its morning show and afternoon drive gained quite a bit, while early afternoons took a nosedive. Weekends show a significant increase during the hours when it airs rock music (we’re still waiting for a CRTC decision on an application to strip it of its specialty jazz status – until then it has to devote 70% of its music to the jazz/blues format).

Overall, though, the station’s ratings are very poor, behind even Radio Classique (CJPX) and fighting for last place with Radio Circulation (CKAC).

Big gains for Radio Classique

While not much has changed for the other commercial radio stations in French in Montreal, there’s a noticeable increase in the ratings for CJPX Radio Classique, particularly among men.

Consider this: During the lunch hour, it had 630 average-minute listeners this spring, but 4,730 this fall, an astounding increase of 651%. It had similar jumps during all hours of the day, except afternoon drive where it saw a mere doubling of audience.

It makes sense to assume that Radio Classique picked up many former Planète Jazz listeners, but its increases are larger than CKLX’s entire audience was. Is there something else at play here, or is this just a case of sampling error spouting out random variation in small numbers?

Either way, Radio Classique beats out Radio X in all time periods among the 25-54 demo. Radio Classique’s overall commercial market share among 25-54 is 3%, up from 1% in the spring.

The Beat: A review of their promotional activities this fall, with no mention of their actual ratings numbers:

News Release

For immediate release

December 6, 2012

92.5 The Beat’s Strong Market Presence in the Fall Pays Off

Radio station covers Montreal with marketing campaign and fun stunts

Montreal, December 6, 2012 – Following today’s publication of BBM survey results for fall 2012, 92.5 The Beat is being rewarded for a fall season filled with endless fun and heavy promotional activity.

92.5 The Beat spoiled the city with non-stop action both on the air and on the streets.

In September, The Beat celebrated its 1st anniversary and invited more than 1000 listeners to The Beat Birthday Bash on October 4th at Metropolis. The event featured live performances by musical artists Sean Kingston, Karl Wolf and Anjulie.

In October, The Beat pulled off The Great Pumpkin Drop, where thousands of spectators witnessed Canada’s largest pumpkin – weighing 1,753 lb – hurl to the ground in a spectacular smash as part of a Halloween stunt.

In November, The Beat hosted Montreal’s first ever Prostate Partyfor Movember, where Beat Breakfast announcer Cat Spencer had a prostate exam live on-air and held a free cancer screening clinic for its male listeners.

Also in November, The Beat launched The One Million Dollar Snowfall Contest – a first in Montreal radio. The probability contest could win one listener $1,000,000 for guessing a correct snow accumulation date in December.

“We could not be happier with these results”, says Leo Da Estrela, The Beat’s Program Director. “Our on-going presence in the market was felt by everyone this fall, and now that sentiment has been validated.”

In addition to the stunts and contests, The Beat ran aggressive marketing campaigns via outdoor advertising on billboards, buses, metros as well as on TV and in print.

Weekdays feature The Beat Breakfast with Cat Spencer & Sarah Bartok, The Beat of Your Workday with Donna Saker (9am to 4pm), DriveTime with Cousin Vinny (4pm to 8pm) and Paul Hayes (Monday to Thursday 8pm to 11pm). Weekends include Weekend Breakfast (Saturday and Sunday 6am-10am), All-Access Weekend with Anne Marie Withenshaw (Saturday 10am-12pm) and Feel Good Weekends with Nat Lauzon (Saturday and Sunday 12pm-4pm), as well as party music Friday and Saturday night with TB1.

Part of the Cogeco Radio network, 92.5 The Beat is Montreal’s only English-language Adult Contemporary station targeting women 25-44.

Astral: Points out that Virgin is the top-rated English station in Montreal (overall if you include French listeners, but also among adults 25-54), says CHOM is highest-rated (and improving) among men 25-54, CJAD is the top morning show and French stations have made gains.

BBM Fall 2012 Surveys

Thanks to its 3,152,000 Montreal listeners, Astral Radio reaches 82% of the Montreal population!

Montreal, December 6, 2012 – The Fall 2012 BBM/PPM Survey results for August 27 to November 25 once again demonstrate the leadership of Astral Radio, which reaches no less than 82% of the Montreal population, thanks to the 3,152,000 listeners to its stations CJAD 800 AM, Virgin Radio 96, CHOM 97 7, NRJ Montréal 94.3 and 107,3 Rouge fm. In total, over 5,787,000 people listen to Astral Radio’s Quebec stations each week, making it the number one radio broadcaster in Quebec!

Virgin Radio 96 showed extraordinary results this fall with a grand total of 1,996,000 listeners and 31.7 share of the adult 25-54 market (an increase of 13%), making it the number one English station in Montreal! Also once again, Freeway & Natasha in the Morning takes the prize for most listened to radio station for women between 25 and 54 years old. Isabelle Racicot, a newcomer on Virgin Radio 96, had the two editions of her weekend show Virgin Hit 20 hit first place with adults 25-54 years old.

For its part, CHOM 97 7 recorded 1,569,000 listeners and 25.2 share in Montreal’s English commercial market, an increase of 8%. The station is still number one with men 25-54 years old, recording a strong 15% increase with this target group.

Meanwhile, CJAD 800 AM counts a total of 336,000 listeners, in addition to earning 17.0 share of the commercial market, an increase of 5%. The Andrew Carter Morning Show is once again the most listened to English morning show with listeners 25-54 years old and over, cornering a 23 share of market.

In total, Astral’s three English stations hold no less than 73.9% of the commercial market with adults 25-54 years old.

In the French market this fall, NRJ Montréal 94.3 has a total of 1,923,000 listeners, also earning 13.4 share of the commercial market with adults 25-54 years old, pulling ahead of its main competitor CKOI by over 3 shares of the market. The show Les Grandes Gueules et Richard Turcotte remains once again the number one afternoon drive show1, with its 1,424,000 listeners. The NRJ network reaches 2,766,000 listeners, in addition to recording 11,469,000 listening hours.

Finally, 107,3 Rouge fm has 2,220,000 listeners on top of earning 18.1 share of the commercial market for adults 25-54 years old. 107,3 Rouge fm is also the station that saw the most important increase in reach this autumn in the Montreal central market. What’s more, Rouge fm is the number one network in Quebec, in both reach (3,051,000 listeners) and time spent listening (14,255,000).

Astral Radio would like to take this opportunity to offer its warmest thanks to its many listeners for their great loyalty, as well as the precious advertisers who enable it to maintain its leadership in the radio market.

Founded in 1961, Astral one of Canada’s largest media companies. It operates several media properties—pay and specialty television, radio, out-of-home advertising and digital media properties—among the most popular in the country. Astral plays a central role in community life across the country by offering diverse, rich and vibrant programming that meets the tastes and needs of consumers and advertisers alike. To learn more about Astral, go to astral.com.

29 thoughts on “Fall radio ratings: CHOM and CJPX gain, The Beat and TSN lose, Radio X struggles (UPDATED)”

Radio X, owned by RNC Media, will counter that this kind of change takes time to build an audience, though that’s not necessarily true.

Well it’s basically a whole new station and yes it does take time. They’ll never reach the listenership levels of the populist garbage heard on CHMP, but do bear in mind CKLX has a horrible signal compared to 98.5. Ah yeah, cliquediplateau, there’s a nice balanced news source for ya!

CHOM actually has a slightly higher market share (representing total hours tuned) than Virgin in French, but overall Virgin is the highest-rated English radio station when you include the French audience.

So when/if Pauline Marois and the PQ finally achieve the dream of Quebec City control over the public airwaves (a long desired PQ fantasy) will she then block french and allophone listeners from being polluted by english radio waves? Too many french listeners to an english station gets a fine?

So when/if Pauline Marois and the PQ finally achieve the dream of Quebec City control over the public airwaves (a long desired PQ fantasy) will she then block french and allophone listeners from being polluted by english radio waves? Too many french listeners to an english station gets a fine?

I’ve seen absolutely no evidence that anything like this is being planned or even considered.

Actually, the only reason you have english radio and TV here is because it’s federal jurisdiction. There is no reason to assume that a separate Quebec would have any space for Anglo institutions such as this in the long run. It’s especially true in Montreal, where a shortage of radio channels is a significant block to more french stations being on FM. Why have so many anglo stations, you could serve the community with just one.

Maybe they will just make them do the majority of the on air work in french. After all, most stations would fall in the PME category, and all communication would have to be in French!

You have yet to hear it because it would be something that would freak out and mobilize the anti-separatist forces.

Radio and television language is protected in Quebec because the decisions on licensing have been made at the federal level, and there has been tremendous pressure from oth sides. This has kept a reasonable amount of english radio and TV in Quebec (specifically Montreal). However, that is a federal mandate, and something that in an independent Quebec would fall to the province. It would be hard to imagine a call to change a station from English to French getting much trouble inside Quebec at that point.

It’s one of those situations of considering the full reality of a truly independent Quebec, free of every Federal oversight. You know all those anglo billboard ads on the edges of railway tracks? You can kiss those goodbye too… it won’t be Federal jurisdiction anymore, will it?

You have yet to hear it because it would be something that would freak out and mobilize the anti-separatist forces.

Ah yes, the old “lack of evidence is evidence” logic.

Radio and television language is protected in Quebec because the decisions on licensing have been made at the federal level, and there has been tremendous pressure from oth sides.

What “tremendous pressure”? When the CRTC decided on applications for AM radio stations in Montreal last year (two French, two English), there was little pressure from a political language level. It was barely an issue during the hearings.

You know all those anglo billboard ads on the edges of railway tracks? You can kiss those goodbye too… it won’t be Federal jurisdiction anymore, will it?

Are anglo billboard ads on the edges of railway tracks different from anglo billboard ads anywhere else? Or do you think all anglo billboard ads would be banned? You think they’ll shut down The Gazette and The Suburban too?

Let me add this: When you see the market penetration on the Franco side of English language stations… with CHOM and Virgin essentially being reasonable competitors to stations like CKOI and CKMF… you don’t have to go far to see where it leads.

Follow the logic as they would state it: “Clearly, Montreal has become too bilingual, and the influence of overload of English radio stations is at least partly to blame. If francophones are willing to tune in an english station to hear certain music, then there should be no issue if that station is converted to french. The anglos can adapt and learn to live in french!”.

It’s really not far fetched. Rather, it’s a pretty likely conclusion of what would happen after separation, or any time that Quebec can lay claim to any Federal jurisdiction on the issue. Can you imagine the effects if Quebec took control of the airwaves?

Perhaps you may want to research this one yourself. You might learn something in this area!

“What “tremendous pressure”? When the CRTC decided on applications for AM radio stations in Montreal last year (two French, two English), there was little pressure from a political language level. It was barely an issue during the hearings.”

You are looking at the wrong time frame. You need to go all the way back to the time before FM to understand the implications of French versus English on the air, and then to look at the political reasons why we don’t have a bilingual CHOM-FM anymore. You have to remember that the most recent application approvals were made with a Federalist government in place in Quebec, with the PQ in power, you can understand that the political forces are different.

It’s not a short term, “this year” thing… it’s a long term process of political force.

“Ah yes, the old “lack of evidence is evidence” logic.”

No, rather it’s a question of not going there in a public manner because you don’t want people to debate and consider the implications. It would be ignorant to assume that a separate Quebec would maintain the same level of Anglo services, anglo radio, and anglo TV. They would have no reason to support it. Radio and TV was something talked about long ago, back in the early Rene Levesque era, but like many things about sovereignty, it’s something that is no longer pushed out and discussed. Do you really think they would want to talk about it? There is no positive in trying to get their project done, is there?

Not having an active discussion about it doesn’t mean that there aren’t implications there once the deed is done.

You need to go all the way back to the time before FM to understand the implications of French versus English on the air, and then to look at the political reasons why we don’t have a bilingual CHOM-FM anymore.

Why there isn’t a bilingual CHOM, and why there aren’t bilingual radio and television stations (with some exceptions) is complicated. But one of the main reasons is this: If a “bilingual” radio station could have French-speaking hosts but English music, then everyone would be exactly that.

It would be ignorant to assume that a separate Quebec would maintain the same level of Anglo services, anglo radio, and anglo TV. They would have no reason to support it.

They would have one big reason: popularity. Not all voters are hard-liners on the language issue. I’m not saying that a PQ government would never do these things, but we shouldn’t assume they will be done either, especially since nobody has suggested it.

Do you really think they would want to talk about it?

Why wouldn’t they? Either it’s popular, and there’s no reason not to do it, or it’s not popular, and it won’t be accepted regardless of whether Quebec is independent.

“Why wouldn’t they? Either it’s popular, and there’s no reason not to do it, or it’s not popular, and it won’t be accepted regardless of whether Quebec is independent.”

It’s something that would be popular with the hardliners, those who push to blot out English in all ways at all times. But those are a small minority. You can be sure that plenty of people who support separation still want their U2 and Beyonce music, they don’t want to be stuck in French only musical world. The PQ is famous for not addressing any issue that might make the soft middle upset, it’s why the last time around they tried hard not to correct people who though a separate Quebec would still use Canadian dollars and issue Canadian passports. That stuff gets glossed over.

The issue was touched on back in the day (Rene Levesque era) but quickly covered with a big wet blanket and hidden out of sight. Clearly, it’s not something that would win over the soft middle, but something that would come after they have bought the proverbial bill of goods. In my opinion, it’s pretty ignorant to assume that there would be no shift in broadcasting in a separated Quebec.

“Why there isn’t a bilingual CHOM, and why there aren’t bilingual radio and television stations (with some exceptions) is complicated. But one of the main reasons is this: If a “bilingual” radio station could have French-speaking hosts but English music, then everyone would be exactly that.”

I would say you may want to read up on this one. Think of it as a research project. It’s pretty telling as to how these things turn out.

As for the music, I would say that the current CRTC regulations for French stations are tough, but it wouldn’t be unreasonable to assume that in an independent Quebec that the same standard could be applied to all stations, and perhaps even expanded further to cover a bigger percentage of daytime playlists. I cannot see a franco Quebec approving additional talk radio stations in English (or any minority language for that matter), as there is no need.

The situation in Quebec is artificial, maintained by the CRTC at levels which don’t really represent the population distribution. Further, with anglo stations taking so much of the franco listening market, you cannot imagine the OQLF post separation tolerating the situation for very long.

It’s just one of the wedge issues the PQ uses during election campaigns to drum up support for their hard-core base. And although we currently have the most de-centralist federal administration ever, the PQ knows full well that’s one power they ain’t gonna get.

I think for Radio X their real problem is going to be positioning against the powerhouse at 98.5. The change of format away from Jazz certainly cost them listeners. Unless they make a big impact in the marketplace, they will not have replacement listeners for the station. My personal feeling is that the negative reputation of the Radio X format as “Radio Poubelle” makes it hard for them to ramp up their audience very quickly.

Chom picking up market share is interesting. Perhaps it’s nothing more than having stuck with a consistant format and on air staff for a bit, giving people a chance to reconnect. I think you correctly identified the lack of hockey as a real killer for CKGM, which may be a good part of the increase over at CHOM. Without a hockey season to talk about, sports radio is pretty much stuck covering sports that aren’t quite as relevant to Montrealers.

It’s also interesting to see CHOM do well in the franco market, at 5.3, they are pretty much a legit competitor to CKOI in the marketplace. I can’t help but wonder if this is one of those cases where attempts to strongly make French stations play French artists ends up hurting their overall appeal.

Right on !! And even with the Habs, whenever they come back..until a new owner is found and Bell sells a station they don’t really want, it might be the same. Bell just wants the frequency, this they proved when they wanted to switch to French.

More to the point, TSN 990’s programming has been just dreadful recently. I have never enjoyed Tony, I dropped the morning show after Eliott yelled at Louis from Mercier for daring to have a different opinion and they have started running programs from TSN Toronto instead of ESPN, which means that the little coverage of NCAA football or basketball that might have been run has been replaced by a podcast (Jay and Dan) that is as entertaining as a root canal.

Even Mitch Melnick, who I consider to be the gold standard of Montreal radio has not really recovered from the loss of Andi Bennett and Stephen Brunt. It is no longer must hear appointment radio.

Exactly the point of network radio or TV in Canada. Everything is run from TO…Look at our three TV stations…How much local programming….was eliminated on CFCF. We were told Budget which is a crock seeing all that money coming out of CTV National.

And we have the same in TSN Radio..All TSN..I mean where’s the coverage at least on some form of weekly basis of GMAA High School sports…An acquaintance of mine tried to put a show a show together and was told no room because they had to run all that TO crap……

Bring the Team 990 and a new owner who has some deep enough pockets as well..Bell do everybody a favor and sell the station because you really don’t want it..

Time to weigh in folks. Good blog on the ratings Steve ! A very quick analysis which I suspect might bring out more commentss:

CHOM: it would seem the right decision to bring back Terry diMonte back and this theory would also seem to support TooTall’s rise in the book; like TV, a good lead-in is always an asset. The afternoon drop might seem to indicate the loss and shadow of Pete Marier is still looming large..Anybody know if there are secret talks going on between Astral and Pirate Pete?

As for the Beat, again here, no great surprise here..their experiments with poaching the competition may have possibly failed. Virgin has had no problem keeping their numbers with new people like Freeway and the lovely Andrea Collins, I just love her !!

Back to seriousness, Donna Saker’s long shift may also be starting to pose a problem, and should split it like from 9 to 1 and 1 to 4 and getting someone brand new for one of those shift possibly from 1 to 4.. Note I said new, not a poached personaility.

As for the weekends, I was listening to Nat Lauzon big time on the weekends, for the first 4 weekends, a lot of the music was different a lot of the great dance hits from the period of dance hits from 1974 to ’83 or so. But they then again fell into the weekday trap. How do I offer my services as a weekend music director.Kids should never be in charge of music programming..!!

have a nice weekend everybody, and BTW, it will be interesting next fall, assuming TTP goes on air during the spring, what it will look like for CJAD and CHMP.

CHOM: it would seem the right decision to bring back Terry diMonte back

I checked the ratings, and they actually seem to support this. A year ago, CHOM’s morning show was 4th, now it’s 2nd, and its average-minute audience among 25-54-year-olds has gone up 25%. Whether that’s due to DiMonte, Heather Backman, the format of the show or the music is up to you to interpretation.

As for the Beat, again here, no great surprise here..their experiments with poaching the competition may have possibly failed.

The Beat’s audience has gone up in the past year, the problem is that it hasn’t gone up enough. It looked to be seriously competitive with Virgin in the spring numbers, but now it’s back to being a clear No. 2 behind it.

BTW, it will be interesting next fall, assuming TTP goes on air during the spring, what it will look like for CJAD and CHMP.

Clearly it will be interesting, but I wouldn’t expect a big drop in CJAD’s ratings unless TTP steals away some big names. CJAD’s listeners are extremely loyal, and they won’t go away quickly. On the French side, the problem is that not only are they competing with CHMP, but with Radio X as well. Could be a tough market for French talk radio next year.

For Big Names, possibly like a Ric Peterson or ones that should have more airtime like a Sharman Yarnell, who would be their perfect main traffic reporter. But seeing everybody here on this site has often stated to let go of the morning people like Carter and Schnurmacher, I doubt TTP is seriously interested…There’s other names out there without poaching…Remember now, at the hearings, they did say “alternative”, not a carbon copy like others tried and failed miserably.

Peter Holder would be a good fit, if nothing happens with him with the new Global show.

And AD’s weekend programming has become somewhat stale and mostly reruns or best of shows. Best of What?? So there’s a place to steal listeners very easy.

The problem with Radio X, simply put, is the lack of talent outside Dominique Maurais. He has the potential to become a smarter, neurotically French-Canadian version of Glen Beck. But all the others suck, especially Jean-Charles Lajoie and Eric Duhaime, Quebec’s answer to Tucker Carlson (in more ways than one…).